Your first pilot may be closer than you think.
San Francisco's utilities, energy companies, and industrial players actively partner with climate startups. These are the organizations opening their infrastructure, grids, and customers to new technology.
Pacific Gas and Electric
Pacific Gas and Electric is California's largest utility and a major pilot and customer-access pathway for climate startups rather than an investor, running an annual Innovation Pitch Fest tied to published problem statements across grid reliability, wildfire resilience, electrification, and load growth. Founders apply against those problems and finalists pitch decision-makers to co-develop deployable projects on PG&E's systems, supported by state clean-energy R&D funding, with eligibility favouring near-market solutions.